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UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS
NINTH BIENNIAL CONFERENCE ON GREEK LINGUISTICS

Hellenic Migrations and Katadesmos

A Paradigm of Macedonian Speech

Marcus A. Templar
OCTOBER 30, 2009
Hellenic Migrations and Katadesmos:
A Paradigm of Macedonian Speech

Marcus Alexander Templar

Secondary sources have informed us that a comedy, “Macedonians,” written by Strattis circa 410
BC contained a piece of conversation between an Attican and a Macedonian, each speaking in his
own dialect. From the few saved words and other lexical evidence, Hoffman and Ahrens had
identified the Macedonian speech as Aeolic, similar to Thessalian and Lesbian. Romiopoulou (1980)
thought that Doric might have been a second dialect in pre-Hellenistic Macedon in addition to a
Macedonian dialect.
The lead scroll known as the Pella katadesmos, dating to first half of the 4th century BC, which
was found in Pella (at the time the capital of Macedon) in 1986, and published in the Hellenic
Dialectology Journal in 1993, changed this view. Based on this scroll, Olivier Masson expressed his
opinion in the Oxford Classical Dictionary that the Macedonian dialect was one of the northwestern
dialects, an opinion that is echoed by Emmanuel Voutyras (cf. the Bulletin Epigraphique in Revue
des Etudes Grecques 1994, no. 413). Brixhe and Panayotou (1994: 209) agree, although they have not
ascertained whether it was the dialect of the whole kingdom. James L. O'Neil (2005) categorized the
dialect as 4th century BC Northwestern, whereas Prof. Edmonds of Bryn Mawr College suggests a 3rd
century BC date.
On the historical side, Hammond has expressed the view that Upper Macedonians, being
Molossian (Epirotan) tribes, spoke a northwestern dialect while Lower Macedonians spoke Aeolic.
He based his opinion on archeological and literary evidence of ancient sources referring to Hellenic
migrations before and after the Trojan War. Heurtley (BSA 28 (1926), 159-194), also basing his
theory on archeological evidence, cites the specific migration of the Macedonians through the Pindus
mountain range to Pieria as ending by the mid-11th century BC.
Katadesmos proves to be a challenge due to the deteriorated condition of the scroll, the
vocabulary, grammar, and syntax of its dialectal form, as well as the location in which it was
discovered. Nevertheless, the fourth century BC spell written in a Northwest Hellenic dialect
reinforces Livius' statement in the History of Rome that “Aetolians, Acarnanians and Macedonians
[were] men of the same speech.” In this paper, I will appraise the scroll, analyze the script from a
linguistic standpoint, and compare and contrast it with other Hellenic dialects, while stressing the
significance of the Dorian migrations in the Hellenic dialectology.
Hellenic Migrations and Katadesmos:
A Paradigm of Macedonian Speech
Historical Background
The Deluge
It is a valid argument that Deucalion's deluge was the cause for the migration of Hellenic tribes
in the middle of the second millennium BC. Deucalion's deluge took place in 1527 BC forcing King
Deucalion and his family to move from Lycoria on Mt. Parnassus.1 It is believed that the deluge was
the result of an earthquake that tore asunder Mt. Olympus and Mt. Ossa opening a gate between
them, called the Tempe Vale, freeing the waters to the Aegean Sea. 2 Until then, Thessaly was a lake.
The earthquake exposed approximately 8,000 to 10,000 sq km additional arable land, which later
became the cradle of the Hellenic civilization.
Deucalion and his family moved north to Dodona where they inhabited the area under the name
Graeki. At that location, the Graeki changed their name to Hellenes (`Ellines = Greeks) after
Deucalion's son, Hellen (`Ellin). 3 The migration of Hellen’s clan to the new land of Thessaly took
place after the old lakebed dried up.4 In Thessaly they built the city of Hellas, which was located
approximately 11.5 kilometers from the present day town of Old Pharsalus and less than two
kilometers from Melitaea on the other side of the Enipeus River. 5 It was built by Hellen, not the son
of Deucalion, but by the son of Phthius, son of Achaeus and of Chryssipe, daughter of Irhus.6 Early
on Thessaly was divided into four parts: Phthiotis, which occupies the southern parts; Hestiaeotis,
which occupies the western parts and lands between Pindus and Upper Macedonia; Pelasgiotis, which
borders on Lower Macedonia; and finally, Thessaliotis. 7 Aristotle also divided Thessaly into four
parts.8 At that time, by Thessaly one meant only the dry lake not the mountain of Pelion, while
Thucydides considered the mountains west of Thessaly as Pindus.9
Ancient historians i.e., Herodotus, Thucydides, Pausanias, etc. offer some information on the
whereabouts of various migrations starting with the Hellenes who moved from the area of Phthia to
Hestiaeotis or Histaeotis10 on the western slopes of Olympus. Pushed by the Cadmeians, they moved

1 Eusebius, Chronicles, 71 & 183.


2 Herodotus, Histories, 7. 129, 1-4; Apollodorus Bibliotheca 1.7.2; Strabo, Geographies IX, 5.2.
3 Aristotle, Meteorologika, I, 13.
4 Scholiastes on Pindar, Pythia, III. 59.
5 Strabo, IX. 5. 5-6.
6 Stephanus Byzantius, Ethnica, s.v. Hellas.
7 Strabo IX, 5. 3.
8 Harpokration, Words of Ten Orators s.v. Tetrarchy (Αρποκρατ ίων, Λέ ξειςτωνΔέ καΡητ όρωνs. v. Τε
τραρχ
ία)
9 Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, VII, 129.
10 Greek: Ἑστ ιαιώτ ι
ςor Ἱ σται ώτ ις

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west to the Pindus Mountain range near their ancestral land.11 Herodotus' appellation of the
Makednoi as Dorians makes both the same ethnos. Their Doric speaking neighbors called them
Makednoi or highlanders12 because of their mountainous habitation.
The time of the migration of the Dorus Hellenes to Pindus had to have taken place early enough
to allow for the move and the concentration in the area of Doris, probably circa 1350 - 1300 BC
leaving a branch of Hellenes (Mirmidones) in Phthia. 13 When the Trojan War started Homer says they
were in Phthia.14 Had both the Hellenes of Dorus and the Mirmidones of Achilles departed at the
same time to move north to Histaeotis, Achilles’ Mirmidones would have been with the Hellenes and
all of them would have known as Makednoi. But it did not happen. On the other hand, if the Hellenes
of Dorus had stayed back with the Mirmidones of Achilles, both would have left for Troy. That did
not happen either.
The invasion of the Peloponnese by the Dorians took place at two different times and from two
different geographic areas. The story about the leadership of the first invasion is a follows: Aegymios
(Αἰ
γύμι
ος), 15 the king of the Dorians, had two sons, Pamphylos (Πάμφυλ
ος) and Dymas (Δῦμας
), but
after Heracles’16 death, Aegymios adopted Hercules' son Hyllus (Ὓλλ
ος). The above story is
collaborated by Strabo who divides the Makednian tribe, previously known as Makednoi, into three
tribes: Hylleis (Ὑλ
λεί
ς), Pamphyloi (Πάμφυλο
ι), and Dymanes (Δύμανε
ς).17
It is generally accepted that the Trojan War started in 1193 BC, and Troy was taken ten years
later in 1183 BC. Having that date as our starting point, Hyllus was killed circa 1113 BC in the
18
battle of Helos (Ἓλος
) by Echemus (Ἒχ
εμος
), son of Aeropus (Ἀέ
ροπος
) in a one-on-one battle at
the latter's request.19 His followers promised not to return for 100 years and they migrated north. 20
They returned later about 80 years after the fall of Troy, circa 1003 BC, and their return is known as
the "Returned of the Heracleides."21 Heracleides were a clan descending from Heracles or Hercules
who was an Achaean, not a Dorian. Their connection to the Dorians is historic going back to the

11 Herodotus I, 56.
12 From the Aeolic and Doric word for length, but also height.
13 Herodotus I, 3.
14 Homer, Iliad 2. 683.
15 Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. Aegymios
16 Aka Hercules, or Ἡρακλ ῆς .
17 Herodotus V, 68, 2; Compare to Stephanus Byzantius s. v.
18 Pausanias, Description of Greece, III, xxii, 3. Pausanias gives the location of the area which I believe it is located in
coordinates 36°49’57”N 22°41’54”E, present day Prefecture of Laconia. Helos’ inhabitants captured by the Spartans gave
rise to the word Helotes rendering slaves.
19 Pausanias, VIII, xli, 3.
20 Herodotus in IX. 26 states, “one hundred” years and Thucydides I. 12 suggests about the same number of years. Diodorus
Siculus in book IV.58.3, states 50 years.
21 Thucydides I, 12; Herodotus IX, 26; Pindar Pythian Odes I 63; X, 2 Spartans and Thessalians.

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help they provided to the Dorians under Aegymios in Thessaly against the Lapiths in exchange for
one third of the land as their reward.22
The first invasion of Peloponnesus by a group led by Hyllus took place 20 years before the
campaign against Troy in 1193 BC. Homer affirms the location of Helos, which at that time was an
Achaean town on the coast,23 as «οἱτ
' ἂρ' Ἀμύκλ
αςε
ἶχονἛλοςτ
'ἒφαλ
ονπτ
ολί
εθρον» (these had
their home in Amyclae,24 and in Helos the town by the seaside).25 Temenos, grandson of Hyllus, son
of Hercules, led the second invasion of the Makednian tribe into Peloponnesus 80 years after the fall
of Troy26 assisted by his younger brothers Aristodemos and Kresphontes.27 Upon passing into
Peloponessus at the point of Rhium - Antirhium,28 the Makednoi received their exonym Dorians,
probably from the invaded inhabitants of Peloponnesus.29
Before the Dorian invasion, Aeolic speakers inhabited various parts of Greece such as Thessaly,30
Boeotia,31 Corinthia,32 and South Aetolia.33 Then things changed. Herodotus states that the Doric
speaking Thesprotians, an Epirotan tribe, under the leadership of Thessalus, son of Heracles or
Hercules, migrated from Thesprotia to Arne, near present-day Sofades, Thessaly, Greece34 displacing
the Boeotians to Cadmeis, later called Boeotia.35 Thucydides reinforces Herodotus’ statement by
explicitly stating that 60 years after the Trojan War, the Boeotians were pushed out of Arne. The
migration of the Dorians created various mixed dialects swaying toward Doric or Aeolic influence
depending on the tenacity of the invaders and the resistance of the invaded residents. However, the
invasion of the Dorians to Arne affected only Thessaliotis.36 Histaeotis, Pelasgiotis, and Phthiotis
37
remained Aeolic
After returning from Troy around 1183-2 BC, the Mirmidones under the leadership of Achilles’
son Neoptolemos, on their way to Epirus, had to be co-located with at least one branch of the
Hellenes who by now were called Makednoi. Among the Hellenic tribes, and especially Epirotan and

22 Diodorus Siculus IV, 37, 3; IV 58,6.


23 Pausanias, III. ii, 7; III. xx, 6, 7; III. xxii, 3.
24 Pindar Pythian Odes 1.65
25 Homer, Iliad, II, 584.
26 Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromata, I. 21.
27 Strabo VIII, 3, 33; compare to Pausanias VIII. 5, 6.
28 Pausanias VIII. 5, 6.
29 Herodotus, I. 56. The Greek text states “after it [Makednian tribe] passed on to Peloponnesus it was called Dorian.” The
passive voice indicates that their name was given to them by probably their new neighbors or the Greek tribes they
subjugated.
30 Herodotus, VII 176.
31 Thucydides, VII 57.
32 Thucydides, IV 42.2.
33 Thucydides, III, 102.
34 Thucydides, I, 12; compare I, 3 and IV 42.
35 Herodotus, VII 176.
36 N.G.L. Hammond, "Pre-historic Epirus and the Dorian Invasion," BSA 32 (1931), 131 -179.
37 Herodotus VII. 176; Thucydides VII. 57; IV 42.2; III. 102.

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Northwestern Dorian, the name termination determined the proximity of their habitation. 38
Expanding the above to the remaining of the Greek tribes, the Makednoi must have had the name
termination changed to Makedones while in their physical proximity with Mirmidones and
Pelagones39 on Mt. Pindus. While the Myrmidones moved west to the area of Northern Epirus, the
Makednoi, now under the exonym Makedones, moved north to Lebaea. 40 Note that the presence of
the Makedones in Epeirus has been confirmed by Stephanus Byzantius who informs us of a town in
the area of Dodona named Macedon,41 which probably was the point in which the term Makedones
(or Macedonians) was coined.
W. A. Heurtley’s excavations brought to light pottery with similar geometrics. He discovered
pottery that was less sophisticated and of low quality dated 2300 BC and also the most sophisticated,
high quality pottery dated circa 900 BC. Pottery found in Thessaly circa 2300 BC progressively
extended to South Greece even to the island of Lefkas, in Lianokladi, near Phthia, and is dated as
about 2000-1600 BC. Similar pottery that was found in Central Macedonia and Chalkidiki (dated
about 1650 BC) and in Thermon, Aetolia (dated circa 1600 -1400 BC) is probably the debris left on
the route that Makednians/Dorians followed or from their staging areas. The pottery found in
Lebaea of Macedonia has been dated circa 1150 BC and in northern Thessaly about 1050 BC. This
pottery shared geometric designs even while the quality got better as time passed. Because of the
migration pattern of people, it is obvious that these people were constantly moving, however keeping
in contact with other Greek tribes. 42
th
Caranus (or Karanos) along with his brother Pheidon lived at the end of the 9 or the beginning
of the 8th centuries BC.43 Paterculus states that Caranus was eleventh in descent from Hercules, while
“Alexander the Great was descended in the seventeenth generation, and could boast that, on his
mother's side, he was descended from Achilles, and, on his father's side, from Hercules.”44 Caranus
became the first king of the Macedonians and the founder of the Temenidae Macedonian dynasty
before the first Olympiad (776 BC). 45 Herodotus states that Perdicas had three sons: Gauanes,

38 N.G.L. Hammond, “Pre-historic Epirus,” 131-179.


39 Aeschylus, Suppliant Women 255.
40 Strabo, VII. 6; Herodotus VIII. 137-139. Lebaea aka Boubousti is the modern day Platania, Prefecture of Kozani,
Macedonia, Greece.
41 Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. Makedon.
42 W. A. Heurtley, “A Prehistoric Site in Western Macedonia and the Dorian Invasion,” The Annual of the British School at
Athens, 28 (1926/1927), 158-194, passim.
43 Strabo VIII, 3,33; Eusebius in Chronicles states that they lived circa 800 BC; Pausanias VI, 22.
44 Marcus Velleius Paterculus, History of Rome, I, 6, 5.
45 Eusebius, 227: “Before the first Olympiad, Caranus was moved by ambition to collect forces from the Argives and from
the rest of the Peloponnese, in order to lead an army into the territory of the Macedonians. At that time the king of the
Orestae was at war with his neighbours, the Eordaei, and he called on Caranus to come to his aid, promising to give him
half of his territory in return, if the Orestae were successful. The king kept his promise, and Caranus took possession of the
territory; he reigned there for 30 years, until he died in old age.”

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Aeropus, and Perdiccas.46 Considering the possibility that the names Caranus and Gauanes in Greek
ΚΑΡΑΝΟΣand ΓΑΥΑΝΕΣthrough the change of K for Γand Ρfor Υare practically identical and
since Gauanes was the first of the bothers it is natural to be considered as the founder of the Temenid
Macedonian dynasty.47
Circa 800 BC the Dorian tribes whom Heurtley identified as Macedonians moved from Lebaea to
the area of the Pierian Mountains, aka Macedonian Mountains48 where they used its rich pastures
and slowly expanded north.49 Archaeological evidence indicates that Doric tribes moved between
Macedonia to Thessaly, and even to Aetolia.50 Such movements give rise to the school of thought that
the Macedonian tribes were nomadic tribes just as were the Vlachs and the Sarakatsans. All literary
and linguistic evidence points to the same conclusion.51 In addition, the Makedones and the
Thessalian Magnetes (East Greek speakers) and Aenianes (West Greek speakers) in historic times
engaged in a vigorous war dance in full armor called καρπαί
αby the Thessalians and καρπέ
αby the
Macedonians. 52 Additionally, the Makedones and the Magnesians both had cults of Zeus Hetaireios
and engaged in the same war dance.53

Traditional Sarakatsan hut made by the Archeologist and Director of the Museum of Aiane, Dr. Georgia Karamitrou –
Mentesidi. Macedonian huts must have been built in a similar manner (July 14, 2007).

46 Herodotus, VIII. 137.9.


47 William Ridgeway, “Euripides in Macedon,” The Classical Quarterly, 20, 1. (Jan., 1926), 1-19, 3-5.
48 N.G.L. Hammond, The Establishment and Consolidation of the Kingdom of Macedonia, Collected Studies II
(Amsterdam: Hakkert) 1993, 131. First published in Macedonia, ed. M. B. Sakelariou (Athens, 1983), 64.
49 The northern area of Thessaly and the area of Dium are only about one day ride on horseback from Aegai, the first
capital of Macedonia.
50 Marcus Templar, Interview with Dr. Georgia Karamitrou-Mentesidi, July 14, 2009.
51 W. A. Heurtley, Prehistoric Site, 192-3.
52 N.G.L. Hammond, The Macedonian State (Oxford : Clarendon Press, 2001), 38.
53 Hammond, Establishment and Consolidation, 64.

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Daskalakis surmises the beginning of the Macedonian Kingdom: “Caranus, evicting Midas, who
owned part of Macedonia, and dethroning some other kings, united the kingdoms of Macedonia into
a single realm, and laid firm foundations for his expanding power.”54
The migration pattern we see in general indicates that before the Trojan War the invaders were
incapable of defeating the local tribes of Aeolians, Achaeans, or Pelasgians until after these states
were weakened by the Trojan War. Successful invasions took place only during or after the Trojan
War not only because of social discontent and military weakness, but also because of the shift that
took place in the society of the invaders from pastoral or rural ways to a more sophisticated urban
mentality that enabled them to understand the use of and the manufacturing of iron weapons. The
Bronze Age in Greece was over.
The Macedonians, continuing their wandering over Pindus and then east to the north part of
Thessaly behind Pieria, delayed their development into a solid urban and military force until the
reign of Philip II, as Alexander the Great put it in his speech in Opis:
vagabonds and destitute of means, most of you clad in hides, feeding a few sheep up the mountain
sides, for the protection of which you had to fight with small success against Illyrians,
Triballians, and the border Thracians. Instead of the hides he gave you cloaks to wear, and from
the mountains he led you down into the plains, and made you capable of fighting the neighboring
barbarians, so that you were no longer compelled to preserve yourselves by trusting rather to the
inaccessible strongholds than to your own valor.55

Characteristic of the above part of Alexander’s speech is that he calls Illyrians, Tribalians, and
Thracians neighboring barbarians. The present-day Hellenic nation is the result of the social, civic,
and linguistic amalgamation of more than 230 tribes speaking more than 200 dialects56 all claiming
descent from Hellen, son of Deukalion.
Popular belief presumes that the concept of democracy sprang from Greece and, although it is
true in a general sense, it applies only to one tribal state of the Greek world, Athens. Democracy as a
concept formulated in Athens because traditionally no citizen of the city was worthy to replace
Athens’ last king Kodrus (killed circa 1091 – 1088 BC) who sacrificed his own life for his city.57 The
Athenian polity did not change overnight, but it was the result of a continuous evolution that took
centuries to materialize. Other tribal states of Dorian or Aeolian background continued their
monarchic polity (in some cases their dual monarchy. i.e. Sparta and Elimaea) and that is exactly
what was happening in Macedonia.

54 Justinus, Historiae Philippicae, VII, 1, 7-12 in Apostolos Daskalakis, The Hellenism of the Ancient Macedonians, “The
Argaeo-Temenids and the Origin of the Macedonian Royal House” (Thessaloniki:Institute for Balkan Studies) 1965, 172 .
55 Arrian, Anabasis, VII, 9. Greek Ὦπι ς, Akkadian Upi or Upija, later Ctesiphon.
56 Aristotle’s Works, passim.
57 Pausanias, I, 19,5; Ι
, 10,1.

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Wilcken, reflecting on the above, feels that taking into consideration the way of life of the
Macedonians, their political institutions, religion, and morals, his conviction that the Macedonians
were a Greek tribe strengthens. Any differences in development are due to the geographic position of
the Macedonian Homeland.58 Historians have assessed the Macedonian state of affairs in a similar
fashion. The Macedonians were as Greeks as the Spartans, Elians, Locrians, and others belonging to
the Western Greek ethnic group.59
Borza, agreeing with Hammond states, “[f]irst, the matter of the Hellenic origins of the
Macedonians: Nicholas Hammond's general conclusion that the origin of the Macedonians lies in the
pool of proto-Hellenic speakers who migrated out of the Pindus mountains during the Iron Age is
acceptable."60 The reason Borza does not consider the Macedonians being Greeks is because they left
from the main corpus of the Greeks very early in the history of Greece, at the beginning of the Iron
Age; Buck alludes to the same. To the contrary, the fact is that both Macedonians and Arcado-
Cyprians were part of the same pool of proto-Hellenic tribes although the Arcadians migrated to
Cyprus during the Bronze Age and the Macedonians during the Iron Age. Besides, Buck basing his
opinion on 200 Greeks names found in Asia Minor states, "we may accept now as a matter of record
the existence of a Greek colony in Asia Minor as early as the fourteenth century BC"61
However, if the Arcado-Cyprians were Greeks, although they left earlier than the Macedonians,
and the 200 Greek names alone establish the presence of the Greeks in the 14 th century BC in Asia
Minor, how is it possible that the Macedonians who left a couple of hundred years later could not be
considered Greeks? In addition, the Macedonians constantly came in contact with the rest of the
Greeks something that one cannot state for those Greeks who migrated to Cyprus and Asia Minor.
Most importantly, the first name of the Macedonians was Hellenes or Greeks?62
Thucydides explains what happened to the previous inhabitants of Macedonia,
The Macedonians incorporated the territory of the native people into Macedonia and forced
the Pieres, a Thracian tribe, out of the area Bottiaia to Mt. Pangaeum and the Bottiaiei. They
further expelled the Eordi from Eordaia and the Almopes from Almopia and they similarly
expelled all tribes (Thracian, Paeonian, Illyrian) they found in areas of Anthemus, Crestonia,
Bysaltia and other lands. The Macedonians absorbed the few inhabitants of the above tribes that
stayed behind. They established their suzerainty over the land of Macedonia without losing their
ethnicity, language, or religion.63

58 Urlich Wilcken, Alexander the Great (New York: Norton), 1967, 22.
59 Stephen G. Miller, Letter to President Obama by more than 346 Classicists.
60 Eugene Borza, Makedonika, Ethnicity and Cultural Policy at Alexander's Court (Claremont: Regina Books), 149.
61 Carl D. Buck, "The Language Situation in and about Greece in the Second Millennium B.C" Classical Philology, 21, 1
(Jan. 1926), 1-26, 13, 22.
62 Herodotus, I. 56.
63 Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, II, 99.

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Strabo’s description about the inhabitants of Upper Macedonia is that they were Epirotans,
speaking a Northwest Greek Molossian dialect based on inscriptions stating, “and in fact the regions
about Lyncus, Pelagonia, Orestias, and Elimeia, used to be called Upper Macedonia.” 64 The
inhabitants of Lower Macedonia were the Macedonians par excellence and the evidence thus far
shows they spoke some type of Aeolic, the exact characteristics of which are yet to be determined.
Regarding the term barbarian, the fact is that it had a dual meaning in the ancient times.
Although it started with the word barbarophonos or "speaker of incomprehensible speech, " aside
from meaning a non-Greek speaker, the term barbarian has been used by Greek tribal states or people
to ridicule and scorn other Greek tribal states or people for political reasons or because they deemed
them unsophisticated in their use of the Hellenic language and culture. 65 When Demosthenes verbally
attacked Philip II of Macedon, he deemed “Philip and his present conduct, though he is not only no
Greek, nor related to the Greeks, but not even a barbarian from any place that can be named with
honor, but a pestilent knave from Macedonia, whence it was never yet possible to buy a decent
slave."66 Thucydides claimed that the Euritanes “were most unintelligible in speech and are said to
eat raw meat,” making another Greek tribe barbarian.67 Demosthenes was using a political attack on
his personal enemy and was not referring to the Macedonian speech. In response to Demosthenes’
political accusations, Aeschines reminded the Pnyx68 that Philip’s father, Amyntas, was invited as a
Greek to sit at the Peace Conference of Greek States of 371 BC which took place in Sparta because as
a Greek “he was entitled to a seat.” Amyntas participated through an ambassador and actually voted
in favor of Athens. The relevant text is as follows:
For at a congress of the Lacedaemonian allies and the other Greeks, in which Amyntas, the father of
Philip, being entitled to a seat, was represented by a delegate whose vote was absolutely under his
control, he joined the other Greeks in voting to help Athens to recover possession of Amphipolis.
As proof of this, I presented from the public records the resolution of the Greek congress and the
names of those who voted.69

There is no record whatsoever that anyone in Pnyx or anywhere else, not even Demosthenes,
refuted Aeschines’ claim, which makes Aeschines’ response that the Macedonians were Greeks an
undisputable fact. To this day nobody has disputed Amyntas’ participation at the Pan-Hellenic
Peace Conference. If the father and his state were considered Greek, his offspring were also Greek.

64 Strabo, Geographies, 7, VII, 8.


65 Liddell & Scott s.v. βάρβαρος .
66 Demosthenes, Philippic III, 31.
67 Thucydides, III, 94. Original use of the word barbarian defines the person who sounds barbarophonos or someone whose
speech is so unintelligible it sounds like bar-bar-bar. The Homeric Dictionary by Georg Autenrieth defines the
barbarophonos as rude (outlandish) of speech, which does not necessarily mean a foreigner, a non-Greek. See Homer Iliad,
II.867.
68 Athenian Parliament.
69 Aeschines, On the Embassy, 32.

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At that time, the state of Macedonia was too insignificant and contemptible to demand respect or
require appeasement. The above invitation of the Spartans to the Macedonians to participate to a
Peace Conference intended solely for Greeks without anyone’s objections means that the other Greek
tribal states considered the Macedonians as Greeks. In addition, the Persians considered the
Macedonians as Yauna or Greeks as attested in the inscriptions of Behistun dated circa 521 BC and
70
in Naqsh-i Rustam dated circa 490 BC along with the Daiva inscription dated circa 479-478 BC

āh (now Bāḵ
70 Behistun is situated at 34° 35' north latitude and 47° 25' east longitude, about 32 km east of Kermānš tarān).
According to Heinz Luschey “Studien zu dem Darius-Relief von Bisutun,” AMI, N.S. 1, 1968, 63-94, the tablets of Behistun
are dated circa 519 BC. Daniel T. Potts, The Archaeology of Elam (Cambridge : C. U. P. 1999), 314-317 follows the same
logic. However, Josef Wiesehofer: Ancient Persia (London : I. B. Tauris, 2006), 13-18 very convincingly dates the tablets
circa 521/520 BC.

9
The Macedonian Dialect

Ancient grammarians divided the Greek language into four dialects (five if one adds the Attic
Koine) based only on the number of literary dialects. However, the fact is that literary dialects of
ancient Greece represent only a few of the spoken Greek dialects; a plethora of other dialects come to
us through a wealth of inscriptions and, in some cases, from scattered glosses and a number of
lexica.71
Non-Hellenic glosses found in lexica referring to the Macedonian dialect can be explained by the
geographic location of Macedonia, the ethnicity of the people living in the land of Macedonia before
the Macedonian migration to what later became the Macedonian homeland (this is especially true for
toponyms), and the expansion of Macedonia with the conquest of lands in the Middle East and
Central and South Asia.
In addition, the sixty three glosses attributed to unidentified Macedonians found in the lexicon of
Hesychius include erroneous copyist spellings. Besides, Hesychius always states Macedonians; it
does not state Macedonian dialect. Hesychius’ Lexicon has never recorded a single word stating that
it belonged to a Macedonian dialect. This means that the dialect itself did not necessarily include
those glosses, but certain unidentified Macedonians living anywhere in Macedonian conquered lands
uttered them. The 51,035 lemmata of the lexicon of Hesychius do not constitute, philologically
speaking, part of the mainstream speech, but only localisms, colloquialisms, slang, jargon, or
individual preference.
In his attempt to classify the Macedonian dialect, Buck observed that from the scanty remains
found by his time that the Macedonian dialect was a form of Greek, which was “detached in such an
early period that it is best not classed as one of the Greek dialects in the ordinary sense.”72 However,
he accepted Hoffmann’s conclusion that the Macedonian dialect showed notable points of agreement
with Thessalian.73 This statement echoes that of Wilcken’s on the Macedonians as a group: 74
Buck's contention that the Macedonian dialect cannot be classified as one of the Greek dialects is
based on the argument that it was separated very early from the Greek corpus. However, the
Macedonian dialect had separated from the Greek linguistic corpus after the Arcado-Cyprian (1350
BC). But if the Arcado-Cyprian has been classified as one of the Greek dialects, there is no scientific
reason not to consider Macedonian as also being a Greek dialect. Statements made by Buck and

71 Carl D. Buck, Introduction to the Study of the Greek Dialects: Grammar, Selected Inscriptions, Glossary(Chicago: Ginn,
1910),, 1.
72 Carl D. Buck, Introduction, 9 and 288.
73 Carl D. Buck, Introduction, 9 and 288.
74 Urlich Wilcken, Alexander the Great, (London: Norton, 1967), 22.

10
Wilcken ignore Heurtley’s discoveries in Macedonia which dates the existence of Dorian/Macedonian
settlements just north of Thessaly between 1150-1050 BC.75
The material from Histiaiotis and Perrhaebia is very scanty and the archaic inscriptions from
Magnesia are limited to few fragmented specimens. The inscription IG IX.ii.199 from Phthiotis
conclusively shows that the dialect was Thessalian. Most of the Magnesian inscriptions are of the
late period and in Attic κοι
νήand that is exactly the case with the Macedonian inscriptions. How is
it possible for one to conclude from scanty fragmentary inscriptions that the Magnesian dialect is
Greek and accept it as such, but for the Macedonian, having more than a few inscriptions (more than
6,000) the result is inconclusive? 76
More inscriptions categorized as Aeolic and Northwest Doric written in the Macedonian dialect
are now available than at the time of Hoffmann, Buck and Meillet. The remaining inscriptions found
in Macedonia are in either Classical Attic or Attic koinēand belong to the late Macedonian or even
Roman period. Hoffmann’s view that the Macedonian dialect had “some notable points of
agreement” with Thessalian is not clear as to which Thessalian he is referring to, since Thessalian
included two dialects, one of Thessaliotis which was a mixture of Northwest Doric and the other of
Pelasgiotis which was almost pure Aeolic.77 He probably meant the one of Thessaliotis.
In his review of Hoffmann’s book, Buck explains that the Macedonian dialect was not readily
understood by other Greeks as it appears in various historical documents, such as in the case of
Philotas in Q. Curtius VI. 9.35, is not strange because “the same must have been true of several of the
Greek dialects. A speech as delivered in Thessalian, Elean, etc., in their earlier form, before they were
78
tempered by κοι
νήinfluence, would not have been readily followed, we may be sure.”
Meillet indicates that the Macedonian dialect shows voiced stops where Greek has voiceless
aspirated as δώρ
αξfor θώραξ
. He furthermore accepts ABΡ
ΟΥTΕΣcorresponding to ΟΦΡΥΕΣas
the copyist error where T renders Ϝand mentions, “the voiceless aspirated stops as quite close to the
voiced stops because of the weakness of their articulation. Moreover, by passing through a stage of
spirant pronunciation, voiceless aspirated sounds may voice; thus, Germ. is represented by d in
German, and certain Bantu dialects present analogous occurrences.”79
Hatzopoulos offers an example from the German word Mutter stating, “the sound /t/ in the
German gloss 'Mutter' is not the direct heir of the same sound in the Indo-European gloss *mater, but

75 W. A. Heurtley, Prehistoric Site, 190.


76 Carl D. Buck, The Greek Dialects, Ed. John H. Betts (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1955), 151.
77 Carl D. Buck, Introduction, 135, ff 1.
78 Carl Darling Buck, review of Die Makedonen: ihre Sprache und ihr Volkstum by Otto Von Hoffmann, Classical
Philology, III, (January – October, 1908): 102-3.
79 Antoine Meillet, The Indo-European Dialects, trans. Samuel N. Rosenberg (University of Alabama Press, 2006), 99.

11
has evolved from the common Germanic form *moδer, which was the reflex of Indo-European
*mater.” He continues, “one must be wary of short-cuts and simplifications in linguistics.” 80 As we
saw above his views are supported by Meillet’s statement above.
Each dialect developed in its own pace and manner and that was true for the Macedonian
dialect. The only reason that I see in the disruption of a development of the Macedonian dialect,
unlike other Greek dialects, is the fact that the process was interrupted by the codification of the
Attic κοι
νήor koinēdialect. Sapir feels that the Macedonian dialect could have been between
Illyrian and Greek based on the likelihood of Macedonian maintaining the prevocalic S. However, if
that is the case, how would we account for glosses such as ΣΕΛΗΝΗ (Attic/Ionic), ΣΕΛΑΝΝΑ
(Lesbian), ΣΕΛΑΝΑ (all other dialects) or the gloss ΣΕΛΑΣthat every Greek dialect maintains?81
How could we account for the ethnic ΣΕΛΛΟΙ
, another name for Hellenes or Greeks?

Accentuation
Although inscriptions tell us about the dialects they are written in, they mention nothing about
the accentuation, their mechanism, and the rules that apply. We do know the accentuation of the
Attic and through the Lesbian the Aeolic which was recessive as in πότ
αμος
, σόφος
, βασί
λευςas it
compares to the Attic ποτ
αμός
, σοφός
,βασι
λεύς
. Similarly, we have scanty evidence that the Doric
accentuation was processive as is ἐ
λάβ
ον,ἐ
νδοῖ
,ἐντ
αυθοῖ
,τουτ
ῷinstead of the Attic ἒ
λαβον
,ἒνδω,

νταῦθα, τ ῳ. 82 We do not have such evidence from Northwest Greek dialectal text as it is the
οῦτ
present Macedonian text and thus I will accentuate the words using the well-known Attic manner.

80 Miltiades Hatzopoulos, VI International Symposion on Ancient Macedonia.


81 Edward Sapir, “Indo-European Pre-vocalic S in Macedonian,” The American Journal of Philology, 60, 4 (1939), 463-465.
82 Buck, Greek Dialects, 85.

12
THE LANGUAGE OF KATADESMOS 83

0 cm 30cm

GENERAL
Katadesmoi (sing. katadesmos) or defixios are binding spells cast by an individual in order to
incapacitate the opposition, yet written as if a virtuous prayer. The earliest katadesmoi we have is
from Sicily dated to the first half of the sixth century and the fifth century BC in Attica.84
“Most often, the spell was inscribed on a lead strip or sheet that was then folded and tied or
85
pierced with a nail and buried in or near a recent grave.” Although it is believed that early
katadesmoi used in earlier times were engraved on pieces of metal, in time it became a preferable
practice to use a durable material such as lead so that they would last indefinitely and along with
them the wish. The referred to text was found rolled up in a tomb by the right hand of a deceased in
the cemetery of the Agora, it is the only document we have written by a simple person in the
language of simple people.

83 Photo and measurements published in the book Pella and its Environs, edited by Dr. Maria Lilimpaki-Akamati and Dr.
Ioannis M. Akamatis, Ministry of Culture, XVI Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, XI Ephorate of
Byzantine Antiquities, and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki:Rellis), 2003, 67.
84 Evidence of inscribed binding curses from the Kerameikos of Athens dates as early as the mid-fifth century, e.g. Jordan
no. 1. The site of Selinunte in western Sicily has provided even earlier defixiones, with at least four probably dating to the
sixth century: M. López Jimeno, Las Tabellae Defixionis de la Sicilia Griega (Amsterdam 1991) nos. 1–4; see also Jordan nos.
94– 108 in John M. Marston, “Language of Ritual Cursing in the Binding of Prometheus,” Greek, Roman, Byzantine Studies,
47 (2007) 121-133.
85 John M. Marston, “Language of Ritual Cursing in the Binding of Prometheus,” Greek, Roman, Byzantine Studies, 47
(2007) 121-133.

13
Before the adoption of the Ionic alphabet, Macedonia was using the Corinthian alphabet due to
its proximity to Potidaea in the Peninsula of Cassandra, a Corinthian colony founded in around 600
BC. The scroll’s alphabet is clearly Ionic, which applies to all Northwest dialects at the end of the
fifth and beginning of the fourth centuries, but for Macedonia the adoption of the Ionic alphabet
took place earlier. Coins minted in Macedonia indicate the use of Ionic alphabet during the time of
King Alexander I (495 – 450 BC) attesting that Macedonia had already adopted the Ionic alphabet
during the early years of the first half of the fifth century BC, approximately 75 years before
Athens.86 Athens adopted the same under the archonship of Euclides in 403/2 BC.
Scholars have already explained the grammatical and syntactical aspects of the scroll offering
their valuable opinion. I will only touch on the points that in my view need more analysis and on one
occasion, I hope to offer my contribution to the scroll’s text.
Katadesmos facsimile87

1. [ΘΕΤΙ ]ΜΑΣΚΑΙΔΙ ΟΝΥΣΟΦΩΝΤΟΣΤΟ ΤΕΛΟΣΚΑΙΤΟΝΓΑΜΟΝΚΑΤΑΓΡΑΦΩΚΑΙΤΑΝ


ΑΛΛΑΝΠΑΣΑΝΓΥ
2. [ΝΑΙ Κ]ΩΝΚΑΙΧΗΡΑΝΚΑΙΠΑΡΘΕΝΩΝΜΑΛΙ ΣΤΑΔΕΘΕΤΙΜΑΣΚΑΙΠΑΡΚΑΤΤΙ ΘΕΜΑΙ
ΜΑΚΡ ΩΝΙΚΑΙ
3. [ΤΟΙ Σ] ΔΑΙ ΜΟΣΙΚΑΙΟΠΟΚΑ ΕΓΩΤΑΥΤΑΔΙ ΕΛΕΞΑΙΜΙΚΑΙΑΝΑΓΝΟΙ ΗΝΠΑΛLΙΝ
ΑΝΟΡΟΞΑΣΑ
4. [ΤΟΚΑ] ΓΑΜΑΙΔΙ ΟΝΥΣΟΦΩΝΤΑΠΡΟΤΕΡΟΝΔΕΜΗ, ΜΗΓΑΡΛΑΒΟΙΑΛΛΑΝΓΥΝΑΙ ΚΑ
ΑΛΛΗ ΕΜΕ
5. [ΕΜΕΔ]ΕΣΥΝΚΑΤΑΓΗΡΑΣΑΙΔΙ ΟΝΥΣΟΦΩΝΤΙΚΑΙΜΗΔΕΜΙ ΑΝ ΑΛΛΑΝ Ι
ΚΕΤΙ
ΣΥΜΩΝ
ΓΙ ΝΟ
6. [ΜΑΙ · …]ΑΝ ΟIΚΤΙ ΡΕΤΕΔΑΙ ΜΟΝΕΣΦΙΛ[Ο]Ι
, ΔΑΓΙΝΑ ΓΑΡΙ
ΜΕΦΙ ΛΩΝΠΑΝΤΩΝΚΑΙ
ΕΡΗΜΑ· ΑΛΛΑ
7. [....]Α ΦΥΛΑΣΣΕΤΕΕΜΙ ΝΟ[Π]ΩΣΜΗ ΓΙ ΝΕΤΑΙΤΑ[Υ]ΤΑ ΚΑΙΚΑΚΑΚΑΚΩΣΘΕΤΙ ΜΑ
ΑΠΟΛΗΤΑΙ
8. [....]ΑΛ< _ _ _ _> .ΥΝΜ_ _ΕΣΠΛΗΝΕΜΟΣ ΕΜΕΔΕ[Ε]Υ[Δ]ΑΙ ΜΟΝΑ ΚΑΙΜΑΚΑΡΙΑΝ
ΓΕΝΕΣΤΑΙ
9. [-]ΤΟ[.].[-].[..]..Ε.Ε.Ω[?]Α.[.]Ε..ΜΕΓΕ[-]

Grammatical and Syntactical Characteristics of Katadesmos:


-αfor -η. One of the persistent characteristics of all dialects except Attic-Ionic is that the
original ᾱremains unchanged. Glosses such as Θε
τίμα, τ
απι
νά, ἒ
ρημα, κακάdemonstrate the rule.
The text maintains the ᾱ(long a), something that Ionic and Attic had long lost. The original vowel
was ᾱin all dialects, but in Ionic/Attic it developed to the sound of ērepresented by η. No other
dialect followed the example of Ionic/Attic. However, as the Ionic and Attic dialects developed away

86 Lillian H. Jeffery, The Local Scripts of Archaic Greece: A Study of the Origin of the Greek Alphabet and Its Development
from the Eighth to the Fifth Centuries BC, edited by A. W. Johnston (Oxford University Press) 1961, 364.
87 Makedonia (Bottiaia) — Pella — ca. 380-350 BC — Hellenike Dialektologia 3 (1992/1993) 43-48 — REG 108 (1995) 190-
197 — cf. SEG 49.757

14
from each other, Attic partially turned its pronunciation around changing its η(long ē
) to ᾱonly
after ρ, ι
, and εas in χ
ῶρα, οἰ
κία, and γ
ενε
ά. Ionic did not change its pronunciation at all. Thus
although the presence of ᾱis noticed, this ᾱnow is not the original ᾱ.
The nouns and adjectives falling into the above category, in general, form their genitive plural in
αas in τ
ᾶν, ἄλλαν
, πασᾶν, χηρᾶν, instead of τ
ῶν, ἄλλων
, πασῶν, χ
ηρῶν. Some scholars expressed
the opinion that glosses such as γ
υναι
κῶν, παρθέ
νωνshould be γ
υναι
κᾶν, παρ
θένανindicating
Attic influence. Such opinion would be correct if the gloss γ
υνάwere of the 1st declension, but it is
υνάin its nominative singular form follows the 1st declension, 88 the rest of
not. Although the gloss γ
the noun follows the 3 rd declension and because of it, the rule does not apply.89 The gloss παρθέ
νων
belongs to the second declension with nominative παρθέ
νοςand thus it does not fall under the rule.
The rule αfor ηdoes not always apply.90 In the case of original ηwhich represented the ēthe η
remains unchanged. Thus the Attic/Ionic gloss μή
τηρremained μᾱτηρin the other dialects. 91
-υfor οis mostly a characteristic of Arcado-Cyprian, but we also have several examples of
Lesbian especially before μas in ὐμοί
ωςfor ὁμ
οίως
, ὐμολ
ογί
αfor ὁμολογ
ία. We also see the same in
Chalcidian as in ὐπύfor ὑ
πό. ἀν
ορόξ
ασαcorresponding to the Attic ἀνορύξ
ασα. It is feminine
participle singular nominative. The verb in Northwest is athematic ἀνόρ
νυμιwhile in Attic is
ἀνορύτ
τωand in Ionic ἀνορύσσω. Lesbian, Arcado-Cyprian, Chalcidian, and Pamphylian dialects
bear such tendencies.92
-ε+ ο= εor ο. Θε
τίμ
αis the Northwest Greek version of the Attic Θε
oτί
μη.The form reveals an
apocope or hyphaeresis οf the οsound in order to avoid hiatus. The loss of the o from θε
ο- is
common in Doric glosses that compounded with the gloss θε
ός, especially in Megarian.93 The rule
that governs such hyphaeresis is the following: Θε
- appears before a single consonant as in Θε
τίμα;
Θο- appears before two consonants as Θοκρί
νης
.
-εfor ι
, as in δι
ελέ
ξαι
μιis the Northwest form for the Attic δ
ιελί
ξαι
μι
Assimilation γν= ν
. Most dialects prefer ΓΙ
ΝΟΜΑΙinstead of ΓΙ
ΓΝΟΜΑΙwhich appears solely
in Attic. In Thessalian and Boeotian it is ΓΙ .94
ΝΥΜΑΙ

88 Cyrenean dialect – Solmsen-Fraenkel, 39; SEG IX 72, 105 §16: Fourth century BC, in Buck Greek Dialects, 309, «αἴκα
γυνάἐ γ βάληι, αἰμέ γκαδ ι
άδ ηλον¦ι ».
89 Ἀχιλλε ύςΤζ άρτζανος , Γραμματ ι
κήτ ῆςἈρχ αί αςἙλλ ηνι
κῆςΓλώσσης . Αθῆναι: ΟΕΣΒ), 1960, 55.
90 Carl D. Buck, Introduction, 19[§8], 34[§41.4], 80[§104].
91 Carl D. Buck, Introduction, 25.
92 Carl D. Buck, Introduction, 25.
93 Carl D. Buck, Introduction, 149.
94 Carl D. Buck, Greek Dialects, 74.

15
Psilosis: Although there are four glosses in this text that would take spiritus asper in Attic, i.e.
ΟΠΟΚΑ, Ι
ΚΕΤΙ
Σ, ΥΜΩΝ, ΟΠΩΣ, the text lacks prevocalic Ϝ, , H, or [i.e. ϜΟΠΟΚΑ, ϜΟΠΩΣ,
95
ϜΙ
ΚAΤΙ
Σ, ϜΥΜΩN] pointing to spiritus lenis or psilosis.
Dialectal interchange West Greek α= East Greek ε
. The gloss Ι
ΚΕΤΙ
Σinstead of Ι
ΚAΤΙ
Σ(ε
from α) falls in the dialectal interchange of West Greek α(Northwest Greek, Doric) = East Greek ε
(Attic –Ionic, Aeolic and Arcado-Cyprian) and although one could rush to explain it as Attic
influence, we must be careful because besides the obvious Northwest text we have seen Aeolic
influence as well. In my opinion Ι Σis Aeolic.96 This view is reinforced by other inscriptions
ΚΕΤΙ
found in Macedonia along with the famous exchange found in Strattis’ Macedonians:

Athenian: Σφύραι
ναδ
'ἐστ
ίτί
ς;
Macedonian: Κέ
στρανμέ
νὒμμε
ςὨτ
τικοίκι
κλήσκε
τε.
The above conversation is about a type of fish. The Athenian is asking what is sphyraina? The
Macedonian responded, "it is what you Atticans call kestra." Kestra or sphyraina is the needle-fish,
which in Modern Greek is sfyrida. The word ὒμμε
ςis Aeolic appearing in Sappho (Lesbian or pure
Aeolic dialect) while its Doric equivalent is ὒμε
ς, ἁμέ
ςand the Attic ὑμ
εῖς
. The double nasal μ
μbears
the characteristics of Lesbian and Thessalian dialects.97 In addition, literary evidence indicates that
all dialects with the exception of the Ionic/Attic used the ending –μ
ες. 98 The verb κι
κλήσκε
τεis
present of κι
κλήσκωwith the syllable κιbeing present tense reduplication. It is Aeolic in origin, and
it appears in Homer's Iliad X, 11;99 XV 403.100 The word Ὠτ
τικοίis nothing more than a crasis or
contraction of οἱ+ Ἀτ
τικοί(οι+ α=ω).
Optative in conditional form clauses survives in several dialects. In general, use of optative in
lieu of subjunctive is an attribute of Northwest Greek. Aorists in optative and imperative moods
serve as a “pleading tense.”

95 English rough breathing; Greek: δασὺπν εῦμα, δ ασε


ῖα.
96 Carl D. Buck, Introduction, 24. See also vowel gradation in pages 44-46.
97 Carl D. Buck, Introduction, 60.
98 Carl D. Buck, "The Language Situation in and about Greece in the Second Millennium B. C.," Classical Philology, January
1926, 21, 1, 119.
99 κλήδηνε ἰςἀγ ορὴνκικλήσκ εινἄνδ ραἕ καστον.
100 "νῆσόςτ ι
ςΣυρί ηκικλήσκε ται,ε ἴπουἀκού εις.

16
κατ
αγράφωis a Doric form for the Attic ἀναγράφωmeaning ‘
I engrave,’ ‘I incise.’
παρ
κατ
τίθε
μαι(= Attic παρακατατ
ίθε
μαι
) apocope of prepositions is common in Doric, and
even more so in Aeolic dialects.
Δαί
μ-οσιhas a termination different from Lesbian, Thessalian, Boeotian, Delphian, Elean, East
Locrian which is δαι
μόν-ε
σσι
. Elsewhere in Northwest dialect and in inscriptions from Corinth, the
colonies of Epidamnus, and Syracuse the termination is δ
αιμόν-οι
ς. The Heracleian dialect prefers
δ
αιμόν-ασσι
. However, Smyth maintains that the termination –ε
σσιis not Aeolo-Doric because
with the exception in the Homeric (Chian) dialect it occurs only in Thessalian and Boeotian. The
Peloponnesian Doric has no such termination and in the Helladic peninsula it appears only as far
west as Phocis. If such termination were either Aeolic or Doric, it would appear beyond the
aforementioned borders.101 Thus, the above termination is not necessarily Attic nor has Attic
influence, but it is a bona fide termination of certain Northwest Greek dialects, one of which is
Macedonian.
Ὀπό
κα: The termination –καof conjunctions of time is one of the characteristics not only of the
Northwest Greek group of dialects, but all West Greek. Thessalian and Boeotian being mixed dialects
of Aeolic and Doric, but representing the East Greek Division along with Attic – Ionic, Lesbian
Aeolic, and Arcado-Cyprian or Achaean seem to compromise between –καof the Northwest and –τ
ε
of the Attic-Ionic rendering –κε
. In oπόκα, the termination –καis West Greek equivalent to –τ
εor
ανof the Attic. It is a standard characteristic of West Greek and Boeotian. Thessalian, Lesbian, and
Cyprian use –κε
. Other examples are ὅκα, τ
όκα, and πόκα. Ionic and Attic use –τ
εor τ
ανas in
οπότ
ε, ότ
ε, οτ
αν, etc. Occasionally we see Attic using –καas in ἡ
νίκα, πην
ίκα.
Γᾶμαι
: The verb appears in all dialects uncontracted as γ
αμὲ
-ω(athematic form) turning into
contracted γ
αμῶin Attic meaning “
to marry.”For the first time one sees it in Homer’
s Iliad X388,
391. It started as an irregular verb forming its first aorist as ἔ
γημα, although its Doric first aorist
form was γ ν.102 O’Neil sees it as infinitive of the aorist stating that the -μσ- (γᾶμσαι
ᾶμε ) should
normally turn to -μ- (γ );103 therefore, he concludes, it cannot be Aeolic (Thessalian) because it
άμαι
does not have double nasal (-μμ-).104 There are two problems with this thought. First, the double
nasal or double liquid spelling is not automatic, but it follows certain rules appearing usually before
.105 Second, an infinitive in this case does not make any syntactical sense. In addition, the ending of
ι
this athematic infinitive would have been in Lesbian present and occasionally aorist γ
αμέ
ν. In most

101 Herbert Weir Smyth, “The Dialects of North Greece,” The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 7, No 4. (1886), 421-445.
102 Pindar, Paean 3.161 and Theokritos (Θε όκρι τος) 8. 93.
103 James O’Neil, “Doris Forms in Macedonian Inscriptions,” Glotta LXXXII. Vandenhoek & Ruprecht (2007), 192-210.
104 Carl D. Buck, Introduction, 135 – 141.
105 Carl D. Buck, Introduction, 24 [§19.2, 3], 60-64 [§73-77.1, 79]; Greek Dialects, 65-72 [§73-85].

17
106
cases, the Lesbian aorist infinitive of athematic verbs terminates in –μ
εναιι

.γαμέ
-με
ναι and in
Thessalian γ
αμέ ν.107 In my view, it is first person singular, subjunctive mood serving as
-με
conditional, middle voice and that is exactly why the adverb τ
όκαwas added. In Attic, this form
would have been γῆμ
αι.108
δ
ιελέ
ξαι
μιcorresponds to Attic δι
ελί
ξαι
μι= I unroll. The substitution of εfor ιis a
characteristic of this defixio. In Aeolic, it happens before ρ. It is found twice in SEG 38-649
̣
(1988),109 a late fourth century BC tombstone from Pella, which reads ἐ
σστ ̣
έfor ἐ
στίand Ίφε
κράτ
ης
for Ίφι
κράτ
ης. In this inscription, the Aeolic characteristics of double sibilant is apparent.
πάλε
ινfor πάλι
ν. In line seven of the scroll, Voutyras’s assertion that the writer started to write
πάλ
{ε}ι
νwith an E recognizing it as an error, but failing to erase it, is logical. Confusion of long ι
and the diphthong -ε
ιis also found as early as the fourth century in Attic. The same happened in the
Boeotian dialect due to possible change in pronunciation, which in the fifth century BC oscillated
between ε .110
ιand ι
-ἐ
μίνis a West Greek (Doric, Northwest Doric) form of the personal pronoun ἐ
γώin dative.
-ἰ
μέis the form for Attic ε
ἰμί
, Doric ἠμί
, Lesbian ἔ
μμι
, Thessalian and elsewhere ἐ
μμί
.
In the same line (seven) we observe the gloss ΟΠΩΣ, which is very significant in determining the
approximate dating of the text. ΩΣand ΟΠΩΣare two widespread terminal conjunctions of the
early period which ended at the end of the earlier period. The development of the gloss INA by the
Attic-Ionic spread to other dialects in the beginning of the middle period (after 480 BC), and we
mostly find it in other than Attic-Ionic dialects in late inscriptions.111 To some extent, Attic
influence shows, in most of the Doric dialects, in the fourth century BC.112 Because of its political
dealings with Athens and Athenian colonies, Macedonia was influenced earlier than other Northwest
speaking areas thus making this scroll older than we think.
(Line 7) OΠΩΣΜH ΓΙ
ΝΗΤΑΙΤΑΥΤΑ. Here we observe that although the verb is in
subjunctive and the spelling of the verb follows the Northwest Greek spelling, there is no grammatical
number agreement of the verb with the subject; it is a clear example of Attic syntax. Attic dialect
had influenced all Northwest dialects in various degrees. Nevertheless, the basic principle is that the
syntax of the scroll in this point is not in a complete subject-verb agreement pointing to the most

106 Carl D. Buck, Introduction, 113 §[155.3].


107 Carl D. Buck, Introduction, 113 §[154.3].
108 Liddell and Scott, Lexicon, s.v. γαμῶ
109 Epigraphy SEG 38-649 (1988) found in Pella, Macedonia (Bottiaia) dated circa 350-300 BC or shortly earlier —
Makedonika 26 (1987/1988) 55, 3. Φαλάνν αwas city of Perrhabia.
110 Carl D. Buck, Introduction, 29.
111 Carl D. Buck, Greek Dialects, 104. INA originally meant “where.”
112 Carl D. Buck, Greek Dialects, 176

18
significant characteristic of the Attic syntax.113 Of course, one might advocate that the syntax is not
Attic because the gloss ΤΑΥΤΑ is actually feminine singular under the -αfor –ηrule (above) and
its meaning renders ΜΟΙ
ΡΑ(μοῖ
ρα) or something similar.

Line 8.
[....]ΑΛ< _ _ _ _[- - -]_ ΥΝΜ_ _ΕΣ ΠΛΗΝΕΜΟΣ. I suggest
In line #8
Analyzing line eight we see
ΠΛΗΝ: ΠΛΗΝis a preposition in its Attic form (Northwest Doric ΠΛAΝ) that usually governs
genitive case, but not always. The syntax of ΠΛΗΝoftentimes follows the syntax of the preceding
expression.114 In this case the following ΕΜΟΣ is in genitive.
ΕΜΟΣ: It is genitive case of the personal pronoun ΕΓΩinstead of ΕΜΕΟΣor ΕΜΟΥfollowing
the preposition ΠΛΗΝ.
M_ _ EΣ: I am suggesting the gloss ΜΗΘΕΣor MΗΔEΣwhich is nominative for ΜΗΔΕΙ
Σand
the subject of the main verb and which unfortunately is undecipherable. In ΜΗΘΕΣ, Θrenders Δ
Σor ΕΝΣin Boeotian converts Δto Θ. 115
because the spiritus asper from the ΕΙ

: Before the suggested gloss MΗΔEΣ, there are three letters which I

suggest they are - ZYN with the archaic letter (zayin) rendering the sound of Z (zeta). I want to
explain that Z renders Δas we have found such cases in inscriptions and lexicons, e.g. ζ
έ,ζ
έκα,
ζ
ίκαι
αfor δ
έ,δ
έκα, δί
και
αin Elean, τ
όζ’
for τ
όδεin Rhodian and Ϝι
σζε
ίεfor ε
ἰδε
ίηin Argive,116
κορζ
ί αin Cyprian.117
αfor καρδί
The matter of the –ΔYN is most interesting because it is the case of present and sometimes aorist
infinitive of athematic vowel stems as well as contracted verbs which otherwise follow the athematic
type ending in -ν,instead of -μ
εναι
. The athematic inflection of a contracted verb otherwise known

113 Under the Attic syntax the subject is a grammatically neuter plural, the verb is required to be in third person singular.
The Attic syntax is rather peculiar because it treats the subject as a group instead of as an individual. By using the gloss
i.e. children it is as if one says a group (of children) plays. Taking away the gloss for the group, the sentence now changes to
children plays.113 Normally the subject ΤΑΥΤΑ require the verb in plural; yet the verb remains in singular ΓΙ ΝΗΤΑΙ ,a
perfect example of Attic syntax.
114 Ἀχ ιλλεύςΤζ άρ τζ ανος , Συντακτ ι
κόντ ῆςἈρχ αίαςἙλλ ην
ικῆςΓλώσσης . Αθῆν αι: ΟΕΣΒ, 1956, 91.
115 Carl D. Buck, Introduction, 57.
116 Carl D. Buck, Introduction, 54.
117 Hesychius.

19
as the ‘Aeolic inflection’ is characteristic of the Lesbian, Thessalian, and Arcado-Cyprian.118 One
could argue that the infinitive might not fit in the sentence, but missing glosses such as the verb in
the sentence make any such argument unprofitable.
Infinitive - μωδύω: The missing verb in its infitive form can be any verb that makes sense in the
context terminating in –δυμι(- ζ
υμι
) or in - δ
υω(–ζ
υω). The problem is that we do not have the
preceding glosses especially the verb of the primary sentence that would help us find the most
appropriate infinitive. As an example, I offer the verb μωδύ
ωwhich is found in the lexicon of
Hesychius meaning θάλπω, μ νω,.119 In other words, the author of the katadesmos might be
ωραί
stating that “nobody [may take care of Dionysophon], but me.” There are other verbs that could fit
the specific infinitive termination as ὀïζ
ύωmeaning I bereave, but such an option does not seem
possible and the verb λι
βδύωwhich means I excommunicate is improbable. 120
One could suggest glosses as ξ
ύν,κί
νδυν
, but somehow I doubt whether they could fill the
vacuum. The gloss κί
νδυνis found in Sappho as accusative case singular of κί
νδυν
ος= danger.

Thus as the final readable sentence in a regular word order, I offer


[....]ΑΛ... ΜΗΔΕΣ (undecipherable primary verb) ΜΩΖΥΝΠΛΗΝΕΜΟΣ.

Based on the above, my translation slightly differs from previous translations:


I incise the end of marriage between Thetima and Dionysophon and of all other women, and
widows and virgins, but especially Thetima. Moreover, I assign them to Makron and the
demons. In addition, after digging [the scroll] up whenever I unroll and read these [words],
then Dionysophon may marry me, but not before. He may not take any wife but me, and I
may grow old with him but no other woman. I am your petitioner; pity me dear daemons, for
I am weak and abandoned of all friends. Nevertheless, [please] protect me so these [things] do
not happen. This and [also] evil Thetima should evilly perish. [lacuna- ΑΛundecipherable -
lacuna] no one may take care [Dionysophon], but me. I am humble (modest) but [I wish] I
be fortunate and blessed, [undecipherable].

--- … ---

118 Carl D. Buck, Introduction, 114. Herbert Weir Smyth, “The Arcado-Cyprian Dialect,” Transactions of the American
Philological Association (1869-1896). 18 (1887), 59-159, 108.
119 Paul Kretschmer, Ernst Locker, Rückläufiges Wörterbuch der griechischen Sprache (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht), 1977.
120 Hesychius, s.v. λιβδύ ει
ν“to excommunicate.”

20
Remarks on katadesmos
 The language of the scroll maintains the original long ᾱinstead of ηwhich is a very Attic and
characteristically Ionic. Although it bears Northwest distinctiveness, it is syntactically influenced by
Aeolic and Attic dialects, as does the Thessalian.
 Psilosis on glosses ΟΠΟΚΑ, ΟΠΩΣ, Ι
ΚΕΤΙ
Σ, ΥΜΩN, because they lack the prevocalic
presence of Ϝ, , H, or .
 The syntax of the gloss ΟΠΩΣwith subjunctive is common in the early times ending in the
beginning of fifth century BC in favor of INA with subjunctive.
 The time of the scroll’s text is about the end of the fifth and beginning of the fourth century
BC.
 The lexical, grammatical, and syntactical intricacies of the text indicate that the author is
local and the textual form is supported by other inscriptions found in Macedonia.
The syntax of the conjunction of manner ΟΠΩΣwith subjunctive instead of Ι
ΝΑwith
subjunctive denotes syntax of earlier period.
The presence of the Attic syntax in the scroll demonstrates the influence of the Attic dialect.
Athens, due to its political and military superiority over other Greek states forced linguistic
dominance over all dialects. Attic had already become in the very early years of the fifth century BC
the kultursprache of the Macedonian nobility.
The migration of the Dorian Thesprotians to the Aeolic speaking Thessaly helps us realize that
not all Macedonians had passed to the Peloponnese where they received the exonym Dorians. Had all
Macedonians passed on to Peloponnese leaving no elements on the continental Greece, the
Macedonian/Dorian Thesprotians would not have existed in Epirus.
The Phoenician ( zayin) rendering Z (zeta) brings the date of the script to the end of the last
half of the fifth century BC. One could even argue that the inscription’s zayin resembles as in
Boeotian or in Theran rendering ZEYΣor Zeus. Boeotia used the zeta by 424 BC
while we know that Corinth used it in the fifth century, as well. What we do not know about the
Corinthian dialect is the time of conversion from zayin to zeta due to lack of examples.121

121 Lillian H. Jeffery, The Local Scripts of Archaic Greece: A Study of the Origin of the Greek Alphabet and Its
Development from the Eighth to the Fifth Centuries BC, edited by A. W. Johnston (Oxford University Press) 1961, 89.

21
Conclusion

The Arcadians had migrated to Cyprus in the Bronze Age a few centuries before the
Macedonians who migrated north during the Iron Age, and thus any assumption that the
Macedonians were not Greeks par excellence is baseless and this small inscription written in
Northwest Doric by a simple woman, not a member of nobility from Macedonia attests to it.
Historical and archeological evidence reveals that the Macedonians (under the eponym Hellenes)
left the Aeolic speaking area of south Thessaly, roved near the west foot hills of Mt. Olympus,
wandered to the Pindus Mountain range through the habitats of Northwest Doric speaking
Epirotans, went to Lebaea and ended up in the Aeolic speaking Perrhaebia and then to Mt. Pieria.
Considering the above route of the Macedonians that lasted a few centuries it is natural that their
speech would include elements of both Aeolic and Northwest Doric dialects.
The combination of Northwest Doric with Aeolic elements and the lexical and grammatical
intricacies of the text make this dialect similar to Thessalian of Thessaliotis, but we do not know the
degree of Aeolic influence on the Northwest dialect and whether the Macedonian was more Aeolic or
more Doric than the Thessalian. What we now know is that this is the language which Plutarch
(Alexander V, 51.6) invoked in his statement ἀν
εβό
αΜακε
δονι
στί(he called out in Macedonian).

22
23
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Buck, Carl D, The Greek Dialects, Ed. John H. Betts. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1955.

____________, Introduction to the Study of the Greek Dialects: Grammar, Selected Inscriptions,
Glossary. Chicago: Ginn, 1910.

____________, The Language Situation in and about Greece in the Second Millennium B.C" Classical
Philology, 21, 1 (Jan. 1926), 1-26, 13, 22.

____________, review of Die Makedonen: ihre Sprache und ihr Volkstum by Otto Von Hoffmann,
Classical Philology, Chicago: University of Chicago, Volume III, January – October, 1908,
102-3.

Daskalakis, Apostolos, The Hellenism of the Ancient Macedonians. Thessaloniki: Institute for
Balkan Studies, 1965.

Hammond, N.G.L. The Establishment and Consolidation of the Kingdom of Macedonia. Collected
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____________,"Pre-historic Epirus and the Dorian Invasion," BSA 32 (1931): 131-179.

____________, The Macedonian State, Oxford : Clarendon Press, 2001.

Heurtley, “A Prehistoric Site in Western Macedonia and the Dorian Invasion,” BSA, London:
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Jeffery, Lillian H., The Local Scripts of Archaic Greece: A Study of the Origin of the Greek Alphabet
and Its Development from the Eighth to the Fifth Centuries BC, ed. A. W. Johnston, Oxford
University Press, 1961.

Kretschmer, Paul and Ernst Locker, Rückläufiges Wörterbuch der griechischen Sprache, Vandenhoeck
& Ruprecht, 1977.

Lilimpaki-Akamati, Maria and Ioannis M. Akamatis, Pella and its Environs. Thessaloniki: Rellis,
2003.

Marston, John M., “Language of Ritual Cursing in the Binding of Prometheus,” Greek, Roman,
Byzantine Studies, 47 (2007) 121-133.

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Indo-European Dialects, trans. Samuel N. Rosenberg, University of Alabama Press, 2006.

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Press, 2006.

Karamitrou - Mentesidi, Georgia, Βόϊον καιΝότ ιοςΟρε


στί
ς, Αρχ
αιολ
ογι
κήΈρε
υνακαιΙ
στορι
κή
Τοπογραφί α, Θε σσαλονί κη: Αλτιτζ
ής, 1999.

24
O’ Neil, James, “Doris Forms in Macedonian Inscriptions,” Glotta LXXXII, Vandenhoek & Ruprecht,
2007, 192-210.

Sapir, Edward, “Indo-European Pre-vocalic S in Macedonian,” The American Journal of Philology,


60, 4 (1939), 463-465.

Smyth, Herbert Weir, “The Arcado-Cyprian Dialect,” Transactions of the American Philological
Association (1869-1896), 18 (1887), 59-159.

____________, “The Dialects of North Greece,” The American Journal of Philology, 7, 4 (1886), 421-
445.

Wilcken, Urlich, Alexander the Great. New York: Norton, 1967.

Τζ
άρτ
ζανος
, Ἀχι
λλε
ύς, Συντ
ακτ
ικόντ
ῆςἈρχ
αίαςἙλλην
ικῆ
ςΓλώσσης
. Αθῆν
αι: ΟΕΣΒ, 1956.

Τζ
άρτ
ζανος
, Ἀχι
λλε
ύς,Γ
ραμματ
ικήτ
ῆςἈρχ
αίαςἙλ
λην
ικῆ
ςΓλ
ώσσης
. Αθῆν
αι: ΟΕΣΒ, 1960.

25

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